Videos taken down from Vimeo for using the word "Pixels"

Columbia Pictures, the studio behind the recent Adam Sandler film “Pixels,” has gone on the warpath, targeting independent films on Vimeo that use the word “pixels” in the title, TorrentFreak reports.

According to a DMCA complaint lodged with Vimeo by anti-piracy organisation Entura International on behalf of Columbia Pictures, with which Vimeo has complied, 10 videos were targeted by the production company.

These include: “Pixels — Life Buoy,” filmmaker Dragos Bardac’s project for his degree at the National University of Arts in Bucharest, Romania, uploaded in 2010; a dance music video called “Detuned Pixels — Choco” uploaded in 2014; a short film called Pantone Pixels, uploaded in 2011; a video by graphic designer Franz Jeitz, announcing that he’ll be speaking at the 2015 Pixels Festival; and, ironically, the award-winning short film “Pixels” by Patrick Jean which served as the inspiration for the Sandler film.

According to a complaint by NGO NeMe, which uploaded a video called “Pixels” in 2006, video creators are also being issued “strikes” along with the takedown. When a content creator receives three of these strikes, their channel will be suspended from the site.

Mark Cersosimo of Vimeo told NeMe, “I’d suggest filling a counter notice. This is in the hands of our trust and safety team and we unfortunately our support team cannot help you with this issue.”

Vimeo did not respond to a request for comment.

Unlike the Patrick Jean film on which it was based, Sandler’s film, in which invading aliens take the form of giant, 8-bit video-game characters, has been has been reviewingpoorly.